His research focuses on experimental condense matter physics: optical properties of semiconductors and nanostructures, exciton dynamics in bulk and low-dimensional systems under different excitation conditions, and nonlinear optical properties of novel luminescent/fluorescent materials. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include courses on modern physics and experimental physics research.

He has completed several external (provincial and national level) and internal research projects as the PI and has co-authored more than 70 SCI journal papers.

Zheng has a B.Sc. in physics from the University of Science and Technology of China and a Ph.D. from the University of Hong Kong, where he also worked as a research assistant/associate. Before joining Duke Kunshan, he was a lecturer at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.